Immigration agent gets 6-month jail term in Kansas leak case

Roxana Hegeman

May 11, 2018 - 10:03 AM

WICHITA, Kan. - A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who sent sensitive law enforcement material to a Wichita television news anchor was sentenced Friday to six months in jail he has already served.

Andrew J. Pleviak declined to make a statement before he was sentenced to time served and a year of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in February to exceeding authorized access to a government computer.

Defence attorney Stephen Ariagno told the court that Pleviak has some mental health issues, but "we feel we have turned the page." He added that his client has "been more peaceful" since his medication was changed.

KAKE-TV anchor Deb Farris told police last year that Pleviak was sending her law enforcement material and texting messages that were sexual in nature, according to a probable cause affidavit released in January. Farris was interviewed by the Wichita Police Department during which officers photographed about 185 screen shots of text messages between her and Pleviak.

Farris told The Associated Press in January that Pleviak first came to her asking to be her source, saying he had all kinds of information she would need for future stories. She has said the station never used anything that he gave her and that he started texting her things that made her uncomfortable and scared her.

Homeland Security Investigations Agent Brian Beach wrote in his probable cause affidavit that Pleviak provided Farris in November 2016 with copies of computerized criminal history reports for suspects. Two days after Wichita police interviewed Farris, Pleviak's supervisor ordered him to immediately relinquish his government-issued iPhone, according to the affidavit. The affidavit also cited a September email in which Pleviak allegedly admitted remotely deleting information from the phone.

Federal prosecutors initially indicted Pleviak in July on two counts of exceeding authorized access to a government computer for accessing information from the National Crime Information Center. But one of the counts and a count of destruction of records in a federal investigation were dismissed as part of the plea deal.

Under sentencing guidelines, Pleviak had faced up to six months in prison. But he had already spent slightly more than six months in jail pending the outcome of his case because his bond was twice revoked for violating its conditions.

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